The Letter R
by JunoInferno
Summary: Donna is just starting a relationship with the Doctor when she worries she has said too much about her past while he's said nothing. A search for more information leads to some encounters she didn't know were possible.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Hi. I don't own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. This story is a prequel to my other story Regarding Mrs. Smith and a sequel to Scandal in the Library. You don't need to have read Scandal in the Library to follow this, but you could. I like it. At any rate, all you need to know is that the Doctor and Donna have started a relationship and you're good to go. And there are going to be some spoilers for The Girl In The Fireplace and I don't own the stuff I just borrowed from Moffatt. Thanks for reading and enjoy! I would love to know what you think.

* * *

><p>Donna Noble knew spying was wrong.<p>

Well, technically spying was wrong. But clearly those rules were intended for individuals who had not fallen head over heels for a skinny alien with a time machine and never said anything about himself.

It had been a few months since the Doctor had nearly given her a heart attack by explaining how he felt about her and those months had to constitute the best relationship Donna had ever had. Come to think of it, "so not a couple" time included, Donna's relationship with the Doctor was the longest relationship she had ever had with a man. It was brilliant and that brilliance made it alien to her. She had never had a boyfriend who cared what she wanted and what she thought. Well, Lance had pretended to care and that made Donna feel special at the time, but it wasn't real. The Doctor's caring was. And he listened to her. As much as he could yammer on, he was a great listener and that made Donna feel free to talk.

Boy, did Donna talk. The Doctor would ask a seemingly innocuous question and Donna would give an answer in the form of a graduate thesis. And he let her, smiling, nodding, only interrupting if they were about to be slaughtered by cyborgs. Donna talked so much and so freely that she broke the cardinal rule of landing a man.

Do not talk about your failed past relationships, particularly, if your relationship history is as storied as Donna's was. Yet, she had gone there.

First, had been Lance. It had started on a picnic in the Year 6000 with a new flavored Pringle: Venusian Algae and Jalapeno.

"I love Pringles," said Donna.

"I thought you might," said the Doctor.

"What made you think that?"

He looked like he wasn't going to answer.

"Go on, tell me. Is the TARDIS like Amazon and has that thing at the bottom that says 'Items You May Like'?"

"No, uh, Lance said it."

Lance. Donna hadn't thought about Lance since the Doctor said he had fallen for her. That statement had pushed all other men out of her head. Lee had managed to get in there for a little while, but it was fleeting.

"Oh," said Donna, stuffing another Pringle in her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Donna. I didn't want to upset you."

"I'm not upset," scoffed Donna as she took another Pringle.

"He was wrong, you know," said the Doctor.

Donna shrugged. "No, uh, not really. I mean I was a little hooked on X-Factor-"

"You should see it in the year 200,000..."

"I do know a little too much about Posh."

"Wait until you see the clones. Huge war."

"Fat and stupid, I'm not exactly a stick and I'm not exactly the cleverest..."

The Doctor didn't answer. Donna looked over at him. From the expression on his face, she thought there must be another cyborg behind her back.

"Doctor? Is everything alright?"

"I don't want you to talk about yourself like that, I don't want you to even think about yourself like that, why would you say that about yourself?" He seemed upset.

Donna shrugged. "When a woman gets engaged to a man who wants to feed her to a giant spider, she can't exactly call herself a genius, can she?"

"You're brilliant and beautiful."

"What? Is that some sort of Time Lord inner beauty beauty thing?"

"Your inner beauty is extraordinary, but in that instance I was referring to your outer beauty which is just as extraordinary." He paused and took a crisp. "Besides, Venusian Algae and Jalapeno Pringles are exciting."

Donna smiled. Then she started a sentence that would lead into a whole mess of others. "I suppose I was just desperate..."

Then she had gone on. And on. And he let her! She wondered if this was some sort of Gallifreyan mating ritual to let the intended female go on for days about old boyfriends. She hadn't done it all then, just Lance, but it had come out in other conversations. Edmund, her first real boyfriend who had gone to University and found a leggy Italian heiress. Jared, with the motorcycle, who Donna had thought for sure she would marry until he was arrested for burglary. Nerys' boyfriend, that had just been a catastrophe all around. Daniel who Donna dated for a year and then he realized he was gay, but still wanted Donna to be his beard. He'd said she would make a great beard. Not to mention every Tom, Dick and Harry that had come in between. She just couldn't stop herself and that stupid Martian just let her go on! She'd kept him from drowning with the Empress of the Racnoss, the least he could do was tell her to shut up.

But he never said anything about his past and especially not the women in it. Donna wasn't an idiot, any nine hundred year old man who looked like that was going to one flipping thick little black book. That was a given. He had said on Messaline he had children and he didn't strike Donna as a deadbeat dad, so he must have been married. There was Rose, who the Doctor had stopped mentioning altogether, she presumed out of deference to her. There was River, but that was technically the Doctor's future and she couldn't hold that against him. Not yet, anyway.

So, she had done the only sensible thing. She had begun snooping around the TARDIS for evidence of past girlfriends. It wasn't easy, she had to sneak out while the Doctor thought she was sleeping and he would go do things around the TARDIS. She was getting sleep-deprived, only adding to her paranoia as she conducted her search. The first stop was Rose's old room, which the TARDIS tried to hide from her, but facing Donna even a dimensionally transcendental spaceship was forced to relent. There was a bunch of crap Rose seemed to have left behind, mostly clothes and a lot of eye makeup. Fortunately, no bondage toys or empty boxes of condoms or melted candles from the Doctor making it into a shrine. Then Donna had the idea to search the TARDIS wardrobe, which had just confused her more. Did no one ever take their things with them when they left the TARDIS? What was with the leather bikini? She supposed she could let that pass but, why, why, in God's name, was there a girl's school uniform? She desperately hoped it belonged to an actual schoolgirl, the Doctor had mentioned his granddaughter in passing, but it looked to be a tad large.

Donna dismissed these thoughts. There had to be a reasonable explanation. The Doctor hadn't shown himself to be a complete and utter pervert and he certainly had ample opportunity to do so. Yes, there must have been a reason there was a leather bikini and a school uniform in the TARDIS wardrobe. Same as the explanation for that scarf and the cricket uniform with the celery and the jumper with the question marks all over it and the cat pins.

Oh, she really hoped there was a logical explanation for the cat pins. Donna was about to leave the wardrobe when she knocked over a paper bag, spilling its contents all over the floor. Donna knelt down to pick them up. She reckoned from the contents that it must have been the contents of the Doctor's pockets, removed by the TARDIS as he switched suits to be cleaned: Jelly Babies, bits of the Crown Jewels and curiously enough a letter.

Clearly, it was private. So, obviously Donna opened it and read it.

_My Dear Doctor,_

_The path has never seemed more slow and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible. Hurry then my love; my days grow shorter now and I am so very weak. Godspeed my lonely angel._

_Reinette_

"Reinette," Donna said aloud.

Rose. River. Reinette.

"Why do they always start with the letter 'R'?," she demanded of the TARDIS.

The ship responded with an exasperated hum.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. If I did, things would be different.

* * *

><p>Donna did the only think she could. She used Google. The Doctor had upgraded Donna's laptop soon after she came onboard, but she had rarely used it because the Doctor thought that putting the name of the place they were going, when and the word "horrifying" into Google was cheating. She thought it was common sense. She looked at the letter, there was Versailles and a date. She tried Reinette and Versailles and came up with...<p>

Madame de Pompadour. The official mistress of King Louis XV.

"You are kidding me," said Donna. How was she supposed to compete against some high class tart? And a French one that? Donna Noble, temp from Chiswick versus Madame de Pompadour. She zoomed in on the oil paintings that came up on the image search. Was she very pretty? It was sort of hard to tell on a painting, but then Donna supposed that you didn't get to be an official mistress by being particularly homely.

Damn.

Donna thought she heard the Doctor and quickly put away the laptop and went back to bed.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was happy.<p>

Sure, he put on a happy face. He acted as if nothing could touch him and since the Time War there had been brief spurts of joy, existing only long enough to be extinguished, forgotten as quickly as they came. If he had said he was happy then, he was lying, to himself, to everyone. You couldn't be the last of your species, walk around whistling a happy tune and possibly mean it.

He didn't want to say it out loud, it had been so long since he could actually consider himself happy, he hadn't been certain what it was at first, but slowly things looked up. The universe shone a little brighter. He wasn't constantly worried about the bottom falling out from under him anymore.

And that was Donna. That was all Donna. He loved her.

Certainly, he had liked companions and his love for them was mostly of the paternal or the good mate variety, the kind he and Donna said they had. He had loved Rose, but next to Donna it seemed like ephemera. Even Rose he had always kept at arms' length, but it wasn't like that with Donna.

There was one thing that did worry the Doctor, though. Companions always left which was just another reason to keep them at a distance. It's what happened. They found new lives and new worlds and they no longer needed the mad old man in the box. The Library and Lee had been a close call for the Doctor where Donna was concerned. If she found someone, truly found someone, he couldn't see his way to stopping her happiness, because it was a hard thing to be with the last of the Time Lords. Or if one day she said she had seen enough and wanted to go home, he wouldn't hold her hostage inside the TARDIS.

Well, this regeneration wouldn't anyway.

So, he had altered his usual dance card for the tour of the universe. Her happiness was his happiness and so he took her places he thought she would like. Sure, the biggest milliners' in the universe had been a bit tedious after the first day, but it made Donna happy and he soon busied himself with the dragon haunting one of the factory continents anyway. He did anything he could to make her stay.

And he didn't talk about himself. Because he was certain that if she ever found out about him, the real him, she really would want to leave and go home.

Which is why her new mood worried him. She seemed... tired. Was she bored? Was it all getting to be too much for her?

The Doctor slid in the bed next to Donna. He curled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, burying his nose in her neck, taking in the scent of her.

She stirred and looked back at him, casting a tired look at him.

"Did you sleep well?," he asked.

"Yeah, fine," she mumbled. "Could do with a cup of coffee."

The Doctor smiled. "I know where we can get one."

* * *

><p>Donna Noble couldn't believe what she was hearing.<p>

"Planet of the Coffee Shops? You took me to the Planet of the Coffee Shops?"

"Yeah, brilliant, isn't it?"

Why was he taking her to the Planet of the Coffee Shops? Pompeii, Oodsphere, Planet of the Coffee Shops? It didn't quite fit. Donna followed the Doctor into the nearest shop, about three feet from where he had parked the TARDIS and they ordered. Donna sat down with a Latte and the Doctor his decaf drip, which had been ordered at Donna's insistence.

"Why is there a whole planet of coffee shops?," asked Donna. "That has to be a niche market, doesn't it?" Was this the part where he told her the horrifying truth about the Planet of the Coffee Shops?

"Well, they never intended it, it just sort of happened. There was just one coffee shop and then another. The entire southern continent was taken over by Starbucks after the first of the Great Coffee Shop Wars."

Donna smiled and took another sip.

"You can get coffee grown all over the universe here. Any kind of coffee you want, but not a banana smoothie."

"I like the smell," said Donna. "It's nice. Thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it."

"Ever been here before?," asked Donna.

"Once or twice," said the Doctor.

Oh, great, another inexact answer, thought Donna. He was good at that.

"Ever been here on a date?," asked Donna. "Good date spot."

"Suppose so."

Now, he was just going to ignore the question and make a neutral comment, Donna knew all his tricks by now. At least he hadn't made the sad face. She hated the sad face. She supposed she could just ask point blank: who the hell is Reinette? Then he would know she was going through his things and that would be the end of it. Back to Chiswick, back to regular life, back to regular blokes... She had heard Daniel still needed a beard, his mother was getting very concerned about him sharing a one bedroom flat with his roommate, Anthony.

"Donna, is something wrong?"

"No," she said, "why would anything be wrong?"

"Well, you're scowling at me."

"I am not!" She shook her head. "Sorry, I was just distracted."

"About what?"

"Nothing." _You and your French tart girlfriend. Mistress to the King of France, I had better not have some sort of eighteenth century herpes._

"Donna, you're doing it again."

Donna realized she had to find a way out of this, preferably one that didn't result in her being tossed out of the TARDIS. A plan finally hit her, it was so elegant.

* * *

><p>The Doctor found Donna in the TARDIS library, curled up on the sofa with a book.<p>

"Oh, there you are. The TARDIS tried changing the corridors again, thought you might be hiding."

"I wasn't hiding," said Donna. _Silly spaceship, I am trying to do something here._ "Are you going to sit?"

The Doctor smiled and curled up happily on the couch next to Donna. He put his head on her lap and she rolled her eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair. He was so predictable sometimes.

"What are you reading?," the Doctor asked after his eyes were finally glazed over.

"It's a biography, actually."

"Whose?"

"Uh, Madame de Pompadour."

The Doctor's eyes shot open. "What?"

"Madame de Pompadour," said Donna, trying to hide her satisfaction at getting a reaction. All the skinny spaceman had to do now was say he had met her. Then she could ask a question and he could answer it and that would be what was called a conversation.

"Oh," he squeaked.

Donna felt the Doctor tense next to her, but he wasn't saying anything. She kept reading on, the book was starting to bore her frankly. What the hell did she care about the woman's eye for Rococo interiors? Did the biographer maybe want to mention her affair with a weird alien who flew around all of time and space in a police box? That seemed as if it might be a tad more interesting than a bunch of ugly furniture!

"Fascinating the French court," said Donna. "Ever been?"

"No," said the Doctor.

Lying. Now he was lying. Fine. Spaceman wanted to play games, so could Donna.

"Really? Well, that might be fun. We should go some time and meet Madame de Pompadour."

"I don't know why, seems dull."

Seems dull. She wanted to smack him then.

"Well, how do you know? You've never been."

"Oh, right, well, I'm just theorizing."

"Why don't you stop theorizing and let's go?"

The Doctor sprung up from the sofa. "No, Donna, you wouldn't like that, too much ceremony, all that ancient clothing-"

"Are you saying I would embarrass you? I can't pull off a corset?"

The Doctor froze. "I never said either of those things and if you would like to go anywhere else where you might be wearing a corset, I'll take you."

Donna slammed the book shut. "Versailles."

"No."

Donna stood up and crossed her arms. "Anywhere else blacked out on my tour of the universe? This is worse than redeeming airline miles!"

"No, just not there."

"And why not?"

He gulped. "No reason."

"No reason? You won't go there but there's no reason in particular why you won't go!"

"No."

Donna growled. "Fine. Fine. I'm going to bed. Good night."

"But we haven't even had supper yet," said the Doctor.

"Eat a banana!," shouted Donna as she stormed back to her room.

The Doctor stood alone in the library with absolutely no idea what had just happened.

Donna had never mentioned being particularly enamored of eighteenth century France, he had only heard her say bad things about France, including a quick mini break to Paris where her handbag had been stolen. Now she wanted to meet Madame de Pompadour? Why? The Doctor couldn't have that, not only might he be crossing his own personal time line, it would soon come out about he and Reinette and he didn't think Donna would like that at all. Now, she was storming off to bed, alone.

He would have to think of something to get back in her good graces and quickly, something much better than eighteenth century France. Something to make up for it. He couldn't go into why, how he had fallen for her, even though he had only known her such a short time. He knew she still doubted him because of Rose, this was no time to throw another woman into the mix. Perhaps Paris?

Oh. Right. Romana. He didn't want to make the same mistake he had with Martha when he took her to New New York, even though he had been completely oblivious to Martha's feelings at the time. If they went to Paris, they would have to go to the Louvre and then the Mona Lisa and he would go off on Romana only becoming aware of it when he felt Donna's hand smacking his face. No, no Paris.

He needed somewhere with a clean slate, somewhere with no memories attached to it, which was hard for him.

Well, he had never been to Athena Five. The resort there was famous throughout the universe for giving women a proper holiday. Spa treatments, massages, shopping... Donna was tired, all she needed was a little time to relax and she would be back to herself and they would be back to their usual routine: save the day, go back to the TARDIS, eat dinner and... do other things. That was the solution to the problem. He would let her rest and in the morning they would go to Athena Five.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna or a resort planet. If I owned a resort planet, I would be worried judging from what I've seen. Thanks for the reads and the reviews and the follows, I'm happy to see so many of the usual suspects and hi again, lurkers. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

><p>Donna could hardly sleep. She didn't want to argue with the Doctor, he could just be so exasperating. The best relationship of her life and she barely knew anything about him. The man who loved to talk just wasn't big on talking about himself and she wished he would.<p>

"Good morning," he said brightly as she entered the console room. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, fine," she said. "Listen-"

The Doctor interrupted her. "I've been thinking, it was unfair of me to say we couldn't go to Versailles and not give you a reason."

Donna held her breath.

"So, I've decided to take you somewhere that will make you forget all about it."

Donna released her breath and was grateful she had not been holding it very long.

* * *

><p>The lobby of the Athena Five resort was impressive to say the least. Sort of a cross between a five star hotel and the Apple Store. And clean, everything was sparkling. Donna marveled at it as she walked in hand in hand with the Doctor. They walked up to a young woman in a white dress and headscarf.<p>

"Welcome to Athena Five," said the hostess.

"Thank you," said the Doctor, flashing the psychic paper. "The Doctor and Donna Noble."

The hostess looked at her tablet. "I'm not seeing your reservation, Doctor."

"Confirmation number's right there," said the Doctor.

"Oh, of course. Donna Noble and the Doctor, one bedroom suite, that can't be right..."

"What? Why can't it be right?," asked Donna.

The hostess leaned in towards Donna. "It's just that most of our guests here on Athena Five prefer to board their significant others in the Male Enclosure."

"The Male Enclosure?," asked Donna.

"Yes, I'm sure we have another bunk available for the Doctor."

Donna looked at the Doctor squirm. Well, that was a nice change.

"That's alright," said Donna. "He can stay with me."

"Well," the hostess cast a skeptical glance at the Doctor, "do let us know if you change your mind. Here is a brochure summarizing our services and your appointment time for the meditation room."

"Meditation room?," asked Donna.

"Included in the price of your suite. I'll call a porter."

* * *

><p>Donna wiled away the afternoon with a massage and mani-pedi. She didn't notice any men, even on the staff, but it's not as if she was looking. She wondered what the Doctor was up to while she was gone all afternoon. They hardly spent any time at all apart. She found that she just sort of missed him. They reunited and went for supper in one of the resort's restaurants. Donna couldn't help but notice the other women staring at them. Great, now she would have to beat them off with a stick. She did notice the Doctor was the only man in the room, but that was too bad. He was spoken for.<p>

"Have a nice time at the spa?," asked the Doctor.

"Yes, lovely."

"Relaxed?"

"Yes, very relaxing."

"Good. You deserve a break."

Donna furrowed her brow. "Why do I deserve a break?"

"You've just seemed tired."

Donna scoffed. "That's a nice way of saying old."

"I never said that, Donna, besides, why would I go around calling you old?"

"Well, I'm not tired," said Donna as she took another sip of her wine.

"Okay," said the Doctor. He cautiously went back to picking at his dinner.

"So, you've never been here before?," asked Donna.

"No, brand new experience, whole new world! Dazzling place I never knew!"

Donna giggled. The man did love his Disney. The tears at Dumbo alone...

The Doctor smiled. "There, that's better. I've been worried."

"Why have you been worried?"

"Well, you've sort of been in an odd mood lately..."

Donna's eyes got big. The Doctor had broken a major rule for blokes, he didn't even know he was doing it: Do not comment on your wife/girlfriend's mood and do no ascribe an adjective to it like odd. When he made eye contact with Donna, he realized he had done something and quickly tried to explain himself.

"It's just my wife..." he hated himself for those words escaping his lips, "...she would get in these odd moods sometime and I never knew what they were about and they could go on for days, months even."

"Married to you and prone to mood swings. I can't imagine a connection."

The Doctor shrugged and smiled. "Might be something there."

"Yeah..." Donna paused. "What was she like?"

"What?"

"Your wife. Was she pretty? Ugly? Clever? Dumb? What?"

The Doctor froze. Donna looked as if she expected an answer.

"I, uh..." He looked across at a dessert cart that arrived in the nick of time. "Ooh! Bananas Foster!"

They ate dessert in silence, not comfortable for either of them. Donna stewed as they walked back to the suite. Donna went to bed, her back to the Doctor. He laid on the other side just staring at her.

"Donna..."

"Good night, Doctor."

Donna closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>She woke up to find she definitely wasn't in the hotel room anymore. Unless they were in the habit of upgrading people in the middle of the night while they slept. The floor was marble, the bed was huge and had gilded posts, the walls covered in tapestries and the window looked out on an enormous garden.<p>

Donna realized where she was: Versailles! She had seen pictures in the biography. Had the stupid spaceman taken her there in her sleep? Oh, well, there was going to be a reckoning, wasn't there? Time to meet Madame de Pompadour and say, she didn't know what. It was going to be good, though.

Wait, where was the spaceman?

"Doctor!," she shouted. "Doctor!"

The great double doors to the room opened and a footman entered and bowed.

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"I'm just looking for the Doctor."

"I shall fetch him directly, Your Majesty."

He backed out the door and Donna realized something.

He had just called her "Majesty."

"What?," screamed Donna.

* * *

><p>The Doctor awoke in an unfamiliar room, of modest size, but sumptuous ornamentation. More troubling was that he was alone. He leapt out of bed and over to the window. It looked like...<p>

"Versailles..." he said with a sudden realization. "What am I doing here?"

He ran out of the room and into the hall where a footman stood.

"Sir?"

"Where's Donna? I need to find Donna!"

The footman looked uncomfortable. As if to save him, another older man came in.

"Lord Montague," said the footman, clicking his heels.

Montague nodded. He looked with disdain at the Doctor in his pajamas. "Her Majesty wishes to see you."

"What? No, sorry, I have to find Donna."

Montague cleared his throat and walked nearer the Doctor. "What you do in private is the queen's concern, but it is unbecoming to have her spoken of with such familiarity in public."

"Oh, Donna's the queen? Queen Donna! Yes, take me to her."

"Wouldn't you prefer to dress first?"

The Doctor eyed Montague's puffy shirt, brocade coat, breeches and tights.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. Take me to the queen."

Soon after the footman left, four ladies in waiting entered to dress Donna. She was reluctant at first, but they brought out the selections and they were such gorgeous dresses of different colored silks and she couldn't very well go running around in her nightgown, could she? She settled on a green silk with gold thread in it. They cinched her into a corset and while she couldn't breathe, it was doing impressive things for her cleavage and she couldn't pass up any possible advantage should she run into Madame de Pompadour. They put on jewelry and did Donna's hair. The overall effect was impressive, she thought.

She looked at one of the ladies in waiting. "Better than Madame de Pompadour, you think?"

"Your Majesty's beauty far exceeds that of the Madame."

"Well, try to mention that when the Doctor gets here. Oh, and say it in front of her later."

That was when the Doctor burst through the doors followed by a nervous footman.

"The Doctor!," he stammered.

"Oh, Donna! There you are!"

"Doctor!" She threw her arms around him and the ladies in waiting left along with the footman.

"What are we doing in Versailles?," she asked.

The Doctor sniffed at Donna's dress. "We're not in Versailles. It doesn't smell right. We're still in the seventy third century. Someone has put us somewhere that looks like Versailles, wonder why." He leapt to the window and took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket to start scanning.

"How do you know what Versailles smells like?," asked Donna.

The Doctor looked back slowly at Donna with her arms crossed.

Uh-oh.

"You said you had never been to the French court so how could you possibly know what it smells like?"

"I might have been briefly. Now, these readings are very strange-"

"You might have been briefly but you said we couldn't go and there was no reason in particular why we couldn't but you were adamant about it. Something you want to tell me, time boy?"

"Uh..."

"Want to know what I think?," asked Donna.

The Doctor froze.

"I think you did go to Versailles, I think you might have been there a lot-"

"No, not a lot-"

"Well, it was long enough to get to know Madame de Pompadour, now, wasn't it? Long enough for you two to get all chummy and write love letters!"

"What?" He froze. "You found her letter. Where did you find her letter?"

"In your wardrobe! Right next to the leather bikini and the schoolgirl uniform and the cat pins! I can't begin to think what the cat pins are for!"

"Why were you going through my things?"

"Oh, so the leather bikini and schoolgirl uniform were yours!" She looked at him. "Bikini didn't seem to be your cup size."

"Leather bikini?" He wracked his brain. "Oh, that was my companion Leela's."

"Did she always walk around in a leather bikini or was that just when you were feeling frisky?"

"What?" He paused. "You think Leela and I? No..."

"Oh, not attractive then?"

"Well, she was, but-" The Doctor realized that would have been a perfect place for a lie. A good one. "It wasn't like that."

"Did she go back and forth between the bikini and the schoolgirl uniform?"

"No..." The Doctor searched his brain again. Schoolgirl uniform... "Oh! That was Romana's!"

"Romana," said Donna. She scoffed. "Another R."

"She was a friend, she was just wearing that." He paused, Donna's assumption suddenly dawning on him. "Donna, you didn't think it was a fetish, did you? They just wore those clothes. Everyone dressed like that where Leela was from."

"Did everyone wear school uniforms where Romana was from?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why was she wearing it?"

"Whatever you're thinking, Donna, it's wrong."

"Oh, I'm wrong in thinking I'm just the latest in a long line of women you've travelled with?"

"What? Of course not!"

"No, my clothes aren't going to end up tossed in the wardrobe with everyone else's? Am I going to be one of the lucky ones and get my own room memorialized like Rose?"

The Doctor froze.

"What? Angry?," asked Donna. "Ready to drop me home?'

"I never said that," said the Doctor. "I am disappointed you went snooping around the TARDIS."

"Disappointed? Disappointed? Well, that makes two of us because I am disappointed that you straight out lied to me!"

"I didn't know you knew I was lying!," he said. "Oh, that came out wrong."

"No, I think it came out just right," said Donna. "I tell you everything about me and you tell me nothing. You mean everything to me and to you, I'm just some other human you travel around with and shag."

"Donna, no, I-"

The doors burst open. A group of women in riot gear entered.

"And that's not good," said the Doctor.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. Thanks for the reads and follows and reviews. Just as a warning, it's going to get wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

* * *

><p>They stood facing the cadre of women. The Doctor moved protectively in front of Donna and she smacked him away.<p>

"You will come with us."

They were led to what seemed to be the throne room. An older woman waited.

"It's been a long wait," she said.

"Oh, great, here comes another one," said Donna. How many girlfriends had he had? She started doing some basic arithmetic in her head and didn't like where that led very quickly.

"Sorry. Do I know you?," asked the Doctor.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Doctor," said the woman. She turned her gaze on Donna. "You, Oracle."

"Who?," asked Donna.

"Oh, there's been a big misunderstanding," said the Doctor. "Huge in fact. This isn't the Oracle, this is Donna."

"Of course you would say that, Doctor." She looked at the Oracle. "Do you remember me? I'm Tria."

"No, really. Donna Noble, human, not Oracle, Time Lady."

"The Oracle is a Time Lady? Who is she?," asked Donna.

The Doctor ignored Donna for the moment. "Scan her! Only one heart!"

"Doctor, we know you can regenerate and we know all about Time Lord perception filters."

"She's not the Oracle!"

"She's a woman who arrived in your TARDIS..."

"Is that your criteria?," snorted Donna. "Must be chasing after a lot of people then."

The Doctor shot Donna a look. She shot one back.

"We saw you two at dinner. If you haven't been married for seven hundred years, I don't know who has," said Tria.

"Married?" Donna turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, who do they think I am?"

"She's not the Oracle, she's not... She's gone." His voice cracked.

"Doctor," said Donna. She took his hand and squeezed it. He looked at her with desperate brown eyes. "Who do they think I am?"

He looked down. He so didn't want to tell Donna this, more than he would have liked to keep Leela's bikini and Romana's school girl uniform under wraps.

He finally spoke. "My wife."

* * *

><p>The Oracle was widely regarded as a very accomplished Time Lady. She was known for her intelligence and at the age of only three hundred had been appointed to a very prestigious post as one of the senior curators of the Matrix. She was very politic, skilled at dealing with people and it wasn't a priority for the Time Lords, but she was regarded as something of a beauty. Lean and graceful, with deep dark hair and eyes. She would have been above all reproach if not for her bizarre taste in husband. She herself could not help but ponder this as she sat alone in the library of their house attempting to read. It was late, the children were asleep and she was irritated.<p>

No, she wasn't waiting up for him.

No, she wasn't mad.

He could do as he pleased, that was fine. It wasn't as if she didn't have her own life, things to keep her busy. It was unbecoming for a Time Lady to be obsessed with where her husband was. Or when. Or what he was doing. Or who he was with.

Or if he was coming back.

She heard the sound of brakes grinding and whining.

She wasn't going to get up and walk to the front door.

The Oracle was at the front door when the Doctor entered.

"Where the hell have you been?," she spat out.

"I was just gone for a few minutes."

"Oh, here he is, the only Time Lord who never learned to read a calendar!"

"Well, how long was it?"

"It was a month, Doctor!"

He looked taken aback. "A month?"

"A month."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"You're sorry? You go off in that old TARDIS doing only Rassilon knows what and show up a month later as if nothing has happened and you're sorry?"

"Darling-" He reached up to cup her face.

She smacked his hand away. "How would you like it if I disappeared without saying where I was going, when I was going or for how long I would be gone?"

"I said I'm sorry! What else do you want?" He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder.

"What do I want?" She raised her hand to smack him, then clenched her fist and pulled back. She took a deep breath. There was only one way to prove her point.

She spoke calmly, the way Time Ladies were meant to speak. At least the ones not married to the Doctor.

"There is juice in the kitchen, fruit on the counter, Ani is by first thing in the morning. I think you ought to be able to manage until then if they wake up. It might be good for them to actually see your face."

She took the TARDIS key out of his pocket.

"And what are you going to do with that?" He was practically rolling his eyes.

She walked out the door and the Doctor heard brakes grinding.

"Oh, blast..."

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked at Tria desperately.<p>

"This isn't the Oracle. I don't know what happened or what you think happened, but I can help."

The woman scoffed. "Do you think we're stupid? She told us all about you. No, you'll be perfectly safe in the Male Enclosure."

Donna gripped the Doctor's wrist. "No, don't take him, please."

"We can send him to the Male Enclosure or kill him. It's your choice. I just need him out of my way so we can do the necessary work."

Donna felt her heart stop. Tria was serious. She let go of the Doctor's wrist.

"Okay. Take him," she said wishing there was anything else she could say.

"Donna!"

"I'll be fine, Doctor."

The Doctor kept shouting as the women dragged him away. Donna turned around.

"We've waited a long time for you to return, Oracle."

"Right..." said Donna. There was no telling these people or showing them apparently. She was going to have to play along. Okay, what would a girl Time Lord do? Time Lady sounded sort of patronizing though she supposed it worked. What were children? "So, first things, first. Hurt him and every last one of you will pay. Got it?"

"Understood." Tria seemed to be taking her quite seriously.

"Good." Donna took a deep breath. "Second, since I'm probably really old, I've sort of forgotten some things so maybe you could remind me what I did?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor was used to getting tossed into prisons. Really used to it. He was expecting the usual cement cell with iron bars so prevalent throughout the cosmos and the women tossed him into...<p>

A lounge. A really nice one. It looked more like a cigar club and was full of men. There was a huge screen at the end covering a whole wall and playing the Galactic Football Cup. A group was focused on that. Several card games were brewing. He walked up to a man building a model airplane.

"Excuse me. What is this place?"

The man looked up. "The male enclosure."

The Doctor sat down and the man squirmed. He didn't look happy about being joined. "Right... Why?"

"Did you not read the brochure before you came here?"

"I never read brochures."

The man chuckled. "The wife got you good."

"She's not my wife. Well, they think she's my wife, not that I mind really, I wouldn't mind her being- they think she's my wife, but not the wife she would be were she my wife."

"Okay." He paused. "Howard."

"Howard! Brilliant! I'm the Doctor. I knew a Howard once, well, actually never met him, but these are his pajamas. I should try to get them back sometime. Sorry if I seem pushy, but what's going on here?"

"We come here and do whatever while our wives use the resort. We meet back up at the end of the week and can stand being married for another year until we come back and do it all again."

"A week?," squeaked the Doctor. A waiter brought Howard a drink. "I have to get back to her now. I can't leave Donna alone, not while they think she's the Oracle."

The waiter cast the Doctor a deep glare.

"Sorry. Did I say something?," asked the Doctor.

"The Oracle," he said with disdain.

"What about her?"

"We live like this because of her."

* * *

><p>The Oracle stepped in the TARDIS and the ship hummed disapprovingly.<p>

"Oh, take his side, why don't you? I deserve a little credit, I think," she said as she started the controls. "I haven't made him return you. I haven't told him to stay home, have I? You could do me a favor and help me prove a point!"

She flipped the last lever and the ship was in the Vortex. The TARDIS hummed and she nodded. "Yes, I am better at that because I actually passed the exam to fly you. He decided to study with the Rani that week. Well, we all know how that went. Psycho..."

There was a thud. The Oracle sighed.

"You landed. I could have spent another few hours in here. No one asking me where anything is, no one pulling anyone's hair, no psychic distress calls because he's managed to piss off yet another planet. Oh, well."

The Oracle stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Wait, this isn't Gallifrey." She looked back at the ship. "I said Vortex, then a few hours ahead in time! Just long enough to make him worry! And why do you look like a blue box still? Did he break your chameleon circuit?"

Two men walked up to the Oracle and loomed over her.

"Where's your pass?"

"My pass?"

One scanned her. "You are an unattended woman. You must come until you are claimed."

"Claimed?," she snorted. "I am the Oracle. I'm from a little planet called Gallifrey. Time Lords, heard of us?"

"You are a woman and cannot go unattended."

They each took an arm.

"Unhand me," she said simply.

They chuckled.

"Oh, you idiots have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into," said the Oracle as they dragged her away. She cast a glance at the TARDIS. "Really?"

* * *

><p>Donna had been given the throne to sit in as Tria spoke.<p>

"I was but a child when you were here the last time," she said. She looked Donna up and down. "You changed."

"I bet I did," snorted Donna.

"You sound the same, though."

"Mind telling me what I did?"

"You freed us."

"Freed you? How? From what?"

"From the men. You taught us how to use the temple. From that, we built our world."

"Including a replica of Versailles?"

"No, Oracle, you did that. These surroundings are based on what's in your mind, what you wanted."

"Great. That will just feed into his theories," said Donna.

Tria ignored Donna. "The men terrorized us before you came and showed us the way."

So that was it. The Doctor's wife was into the planet saving as well. Donna wondered if she had ever travelled with him. Why hadn't she managed to find anything of hers on the TARDIS? Rose's room was preserved, certainly the wife must have ranked above Rose.

"Is that why there are no men at the resort?," asked Donna.

"Security concerns. The war has raged for years as they have tried to take the temple. We have been unable to access the temple properly without you." Tria made a motion to her cadre of guards. "You will show us how to now. Before it's too late."

"Right," said Donna, "let me just get on that."

* * *

><p>The Oracle was tossed into a cell. She landed on the ground, getting dirt on her dress.<p>

"You're going to pay for that!," she said. "Not that I paid for it but you will! Mark my words! You're going to miss being born!"

She stood up as the guards left, their laughter echoing down the hall. She soon saw she wasn't alone in this cell, it was quite large and full of women all dressed in the same drab brown dresses and head coverings.

"Oh, hello, there. Would someone care to tell me where I am and what's going on?"

She paused, waiting for an answer. The women just eyed each other suspiciously.

"You see, my husband borrowed- well, stole is the word- this old TARDIS, should be in a museum, really, and I took it for a trip to try and prove a point to the moron-"

The women gasped. The Oracle looked at them in surprise.

"Sorry, what did I say?"

They looked as if that was a stupid question.

"Anyway..." she continued, "...the TARDIS just brought me here instead of our back garden. I have no idea where I am, but I'm fairly certain the year is 6978. Actually, I'm entirely certain. I'm quite good at that."

Still, none of the women spoke.

"I'm the Oracle. I'm from Gallifrey."

Nothing.

"Planet of the Time Lords? I must say I'm beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable. None of you are answering me. Oh, dear, it's not the TARDIS translation circuit, is it? The idiot probably broke that as well. You can understand what I'm saying? I do know some other languages. Judoon? Slitheen? Habla espanol?"

"We understand you," said one woman quietly.

"Oh, marvelous. What's your name?"

"Sini."

"Sini. Lovely. Where am I?"

"Zeus Five."

"Zeus Five. Lovely. Do you happen to know the galactic coordinates?"

"Coordinates?"

"Well, never mind, Sini. Now, I just need a way to get out of this cell and back to my ship."

"You may leave when your man claims you."

Oracle snorted. "Well, that's unlikely. He's a bit far off and I would hope he would know better than to try and claim me."

"Then you must stay."

"Sorry, are you all in here because you were walking around unattended?"

"I am here because I spoke out of turn," said Sini.

"What? Seriously?," asked the Oracle. "I am from the planet of keep still and be quiet and we've never tossed anyone in jail for it. They got close to it when my husband came along."

"I spoke against my husband. It's forbidden."

"It's forbidden?" She shook her head. "Why did you speak against him?"

Sini hesitated.

"What did the idiot do?"

"He beat his daughter."

The Oracle was taken aback. "And you tried to stop him? And you're in jail?"

"Until he takes me back."

"Well," said the Oracle, "this simply won't do. We must do something."

"What can we do? We are only women."

"You're never going to accomplish anything with that sort of attitude, are you?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor had invited the waiter to sit. His name was Padit. He explained that men of this world were forbidden any freedoms and belonged entirely to the women of their families. He insisted that the Oracle had done this which certainly didn't sound like her. She hardly asked where he went, barely argued after he borrowed the TARDIS. They could go for years without speaking and had done just that before the Last Great Time War.<p>

"And you can't have any contact with women?," the Doctor asked, probably for the umpteenth time. Just then the men watching the football game cheered wildly.

"Not outside my family."

The Doctor still wasn't getting it. "And the Oracle did this?"

"Who else?"

"Look, have you got a picture or something? I just want to be certain we're talking about the same person."

Padit stood and directed the Doctor to a window. The Doctor lifted the curtain and beyond the gate of the Male Enclosure he saw a statue.

It was the Oracle. In her first incarnation.

"Well, yeah, that would be her. She was a little thinner, but I think that's just the marble. Not like her to set up a police state, though. That's really more of a Master or Rani thing to do. And when was she here? She never left Gallifrey without me..."

Then it dawned on the Doctor. He remembered the argument after he had been gone a month, the instructions about fruit and juice, the stalking out to the back garden and the TARDIS brakes grinding.

The way she had been different when she came home.

"You couldn't keep your woman in line," said Padit.

"Keep her in line?" The Doctor scoffed. "You really didn't know her."

"The war has raged for years. Men will regain their supremacy soon."

Howard spoke. "This was definitely not in my brochure."

"Well, Howard, that's not the biggest question, is it?," said the Doctor.

"Then what is?"

"Well, he shouldn't be able to remember her. No one should except me. The Oracle should have been wiped from the rest of time and space like the rest of the Time Lords, only higher species have vague memories of the Time Lords and no offense, Padit, this is no higher species."

"Excuse me?," said Padit insulted.

"Oh, come on, you run round imprisoning each other and your Bananas Foster was syrupy. Then there's the other thing."

"Which is?," asked Howard.

"Donna and I were in a simulation of Versailles. I naturally assumed we were caught up in some kind of holographic simulation..."

"But that's what you do here," said Howard. "At least that's what my wife says."

"Your wife may be correct in thinking she's in a holographic simulation but my screwdriver isn't picking up near enough power signatures to support a simulation that detailed. So, where's the simulation coming from?"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. Sorry for the holiday delay, I sort of got caught up with Ginger Time Babies. Thanks for the reads and follows and reviews and enjoy.

* * *

><p>The Oracle waited for the guards to circle back around with the day's water ration. The women began to queue up and the Oracle waved them off.<p>

"No, ladies, I think I shall take it from here." She straightened up and took her hair down. "Haven't done this since the Academy."

"What are you doing?," asked Sini.

The Oracle shushed them. The guards walked up and she looked at them seductively.

"That will never work!," said Sini.

The guards looked at each other and laughed at the silly woman.

"Now," she said in a soft voice not taking her gaze off them, "you are going to open the door. You are going to let me and all of these women go. Then you're going to go home and not be such bastards to your wives."

The guards opened the doors.

"How did you do that?," exclaimed Sini.

"Oh, simple trick. Works on lower level life forms. Now," she said fixing her hair back up, "I know that you are going to help me find my way back to my ship out of gratitude."

None of the women moved.

Sini finally stood. "I will."

"Lovely."

"I have one condition." She paused. "Take my daughter and I away from here."

The Oracle smiled. "Gladly."

* * *

><p>Padit took the Doctor and Howard out into the ruins of a village, men sat on their front steps, no one moving past their own fences, staring in amazement at the three.<p>

"None of this was in the brochure," said Howard.

"Padit, you have to take me to where they would take the Oracle. I need to find Donna."

"The temple."

"The temple? What sort of temple?"

Padit shook his head. "It's too late, the men's army will be coming."

"Okay, apparently, I haven't been clear. I want to find Donna and no army, whether it's made of men or women is going to get in my way and certainly not some timid man who can't decide if he's a waiter or a revolutionary! Take me to the temple now!"

Padit turned and began to walk. The Doctor followed, then Howard.

"Should have gone to the Mega Bowl, Howard. Should have gone to the Mega Bowl. Next year, separate holidays."

"Separate holidays," mused the Doctor. "I know all about that sort of marriage. Trust me, it stops being fun after the first one hundred years."

"Yeah, sorry, but I'm not taking advice from a guy in his pajamas."

* * *

><p>"Have you thought of where you'd like to be relocated?," the Oracle asked Sini as they ran down the road. "I can take you anywhere in time and space."<p>

"What about your world?," asked Sini as they ran.

"Gallifrey?," she snorted. "Sorry, I can't take you there. It's not personal, it's just the law. Besides, it's really no fun at all if you can't see time unfolding in front of you. It's hardly any fun then. We have the most brilliant cricket matches, though. We're the only species in the universe that lives long enough for it and we have two suns, so we hardly ever have to stop for weather."

They ran on.

"Oh, there's an awful lot of running involved in this!," said the Oracle. "I wish I had on different shoes. Say, do you have any extra trainers in your wardrobe?"

"Do all your people talk this much?," asked Sini.

"We live thousands of years and don't have cable! What do you suppose?"

"So, not your planet then," said Sini. They arrived at a house. Sini stopped.

"What? Is this where you live?"

"My husband's home," she said fear in her voice.

"Oh, leave that to me. I'm good with husbands," said the Oracle.

The Oracle ran up the steps and knocked on the door. A man appeared, looming over her.

"Hello, I'm the Oracle, lovely to meet you," she said. Then she slugged him in the face and he fell to the ground completely unconscious. She looked back at a shocked Sini.

"My husband had this friend in school. Total creep. Still is, really."

Donna followed Tria and her band of female storm troopers out of the resort, through the ruins of a village and down a long and winding tunnel leading into a temple.

Beautiful really, with drawings of two women jointly holding a gem. She looked ahead of her to see the gem from the drawings on a pedestal.

"Do you remember?," asked Tria.

"Oh, yes. Lovely," said Donna. "Hardly changed."

Tria scowled. "We have made many improvements."

"Right. Of course," said Donna.

* * *

><p>The women recovered the little girl, who still sported a bruise from where her father struck her. The Oracle had just about made it back to the TARDIS when they spotted a band of men heading towards them.<p>

"What do we do?," asked Sini.

"I think we run," said the Oracle.

The men hastened.

"Yes, definitely run."

"This way!," shouted Tria.

Tria led them down a hidden path to a tunnel. Tria and Sini sat down.

"We'll be hidden here," said Sini.

"While that is reassuring, I really need a way back to my ship," said the Oracle. "If I'm gone very long, I lose the moral high ground."

Sini just stared at her. "What?"

The Oracle looked up at the ceiling. There were primitive but beautiful paintings of a man and woman together and they were holding something.

"Sini, what are these?"

Sini looked up. "No one knows."

"Well, no one knows or they won't say? Because there is a difference."

"I don't know."

"Because here's what I find odd, you're not a psychic species presumably and yet I can hear something."

"I don't hear anything," said Sini.

"That's because you're listening with your ears," said the Oracle. "Tria?"

"What?"

"Clever girl like you, you must hear it."

She shook her head.

"Oh, come now. I have a little girl, she plays the same game with me every time I call her to come into the sitting room. Quiet your mind. Ignore every thought that says you can't hear."

Tria closed her eyes. "I hear it."

The Oracle walked to the far wall, covered by some purple moss. She pushed it aside and revealed another painting of some sort of hexagonal shaped gem. She realized it was what they were holding in the other painting.

"Well," she said, "that might be something."

Donna stared at the strange looking gem. She looked up at Tria.

"What is it?"

"You said it was a piece of a psychic schism."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Psychic schism."

"You could hear it as well."

"Right..." said Donna. This fake Time Lady thing was not going well. People seemed to expect a lot from you when they thought you had dominion over all of time and space. Donna placed her hand on the gem, uncertain it was going to do anything.

* * *

><p>The Oracle had gotten through the door. Sini followed holding Tria.<p>

"Oh, that is something. A piece of a psychic schism. Something this powerful your whole planet ought to be telepathic."

She placed her hand on the gem and saw...

"Donna Noble!," she exclaimed.

"What is that?," asked Tria.

Donna quickly took her hand off the gem.

"It said my name," she said to Tria.

The Oracle groaned. "Oh, she's gone." She looked back at Tria. "Donna Noble is not an 'it.' She's a human and a very peculiar one at that. I've seen her in the Matrix, all the time lines converge on her. She is going to be the Most Important Woman in the Universe someday. It's a pet theory of mine, really. The High Council doesn't approve and they won't say why. Strange that she's here, though, and why was she dressed like Marie Antoinette?"

"Even if you were most important woman in the universe it wouldn't mean anything here," said Sini.

"Well, that's going to change," said the Oracle. She put her hand back on the gem. "Come on, Donna. Touch it again."

Tria looked at Donna in surprise.

"Yes, you spoke with it last time. Don't you even remember that?"

Donna looked back at the gem suspiciously. Hand shaking, she covered the gem.

"Ooh, Donna, don't let go of it! We'll lose the psychic connection!," said the Oracle.

"Um, okay. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm the Oracle."

"Sorry, would you just excuse me one moment."

"Certainly."

Donna took her hand off the gem and looked at Tria.

"What?," she screamed.

"I don't understand, Oracle."

"Would you listen for once? I am not the Oracle, that was the Oracle! I'm supposed to talk to her! Are you kidding me?"

Tria just looked confused. Donna put her hand back on the gem.

"Hi again," said Donna, "sorry."

"Is everything alright, Donna?"

"Yeah, just fine," said Donna. _You know, except for the part where I'm surrounded by angry women with guns, I'm shagging your husband and you know, you're dead._

"Excellent, so can you tell me anything about where you are? Since you know, I'm there, just before you or after you. I can't tell from here."

"They said it was a temple?"

"I gathered that much. Have they said what this rock was for?"

"Not really."

"Well, I think it's a piece of a psychic schism that's managed to crystallize and somehow crosses time. Oh, I think it's gotten more powerful since we arrived. It's been locked away a very long time but it seems to have had no psychic effect on the inhabitants."

"Donna!," shouted the Doctor from the doorway.

"Doctor!"

Donna let go of the gem without thinking. She looked at the entrance to see the Doctor, Padit and Howard.

Back in the cave, the Oracle gingerly took her hand off the gem.

"She said 'Doctor,'" said the Oracle. She looked at Sini and Tria even though they knew nothing. "What's she doing with him?"

"Don't shoot!," said the Doctor. "The Men's Army is coming here. I just want to help."

"You had better let him," said Donna.

Tria nodded her assent and the Doctor ran to Donna. They hugged.

"You're still in your pajamas," said Donna.

"Are you alright?," he asked.

"I'm fine," said Donna. "There's just one slight development."

"What's that?"

"Well, I touched that huge gem thingy and spoke to your wife."

"What? No!"

"Yes!"

"You must have just created it in your mind, Donna, stemming from your obsession with my past."

"It's not an obsession and I wouldn't care at all if you would just talk about it!" Donna put her hand back on the gem.

The Oracle hesitated as she put her hand back on the gem. She could see Donna again.

"Yeah, hi, long story short, I'm here with your husband," said Donna.

"Donna!," exclaimed the Doctor.

"He doesn't believe I can talk to you," said Donna.

"Well, I'm starting to not believe it as well," said the Oracle.

"Okay, ask me something and I'll ask him. Ask him something only the Doctor would know."

The Oracle searched her mind. "Our eldest daughter. What's her favorite toy?"

Donna looked back at the Doctor. "Your oldest daughter. She wants you to say what her favorite toy is."

"The Scallofrax."

"The Scallofrax? What's a Scallofrax?," asked Donna.

"I'll tell you later. Donna, you can't let her know anything. She'll figure out what happened. The Daleks. The Time War. The Moment. If she knows what happens, it could rewrite the universe in ways you can't even begin to imagine."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because I was really eager to tell her that she's dead and I'm shagging you." She put her hand back on the gem. "The Scallofrax."

The Oracle nodded. "Okay, I believe you, but the Men's Army is coming here and I need to figure out what this thing does."

Donna snorted. "Heard that one already."

The Doctor looked up at the pictures on the walls. "What are those of?"

"Gee, let me just get my audio tour," said Donna.

"What was that?," asked the Oracle.

"Nothing, just your husband being daft."

"It is not daft!," protested the Doctor. He took out the sonic screwdriver. "It's the gem, it's got enough power to punch a hole in time. But it's psychic, that's what's been causing all the simulations! That's brilliant!"

"I didn't follow any of that."

"Donna, great big mind, you were fixated on Versailles-"

"I am not fixated on Versailles!"

The Oracle groaned. "Only getting half the conversation here!"

"Little minds get little simulations, big minds get big ones. You got a big one, that's why they thought you were the Oracle. Her mind led them to the cave, right and she knows how to use it! But why can't the people on this planet use it?"

"Oh, the gem's a psychic generator or something," said Donna.

The Oracle heard footsteps and took her hand off the gem. She looked up to see the rest of the women enter.

"They're coming," explained one.

"Oh, well, I do have a solution for that," said the Oracle. "This gem is a psychic generator. If you can learn to connect with it, you can create whatever world you want, one where men and women are equals. Where you don't have to be afraid."

The Oracle put her hand back on the gem.

"Where did you go?," asked Donna.

"Nowhere, just one thing, are you a companion?," asked the Oracle.

Donna looked over at the Doctor and back to the Oracle. "Yeah, that's me. Companion." It hurt her to say it.

"Donna," said the Oracle.

"Yeah?"

Her face lowered. "The gem. It's telepathic."

"Donna, let go of it now!," shouted the Doctor.

She had just taken her hand off it and was looking back at the Doctor to yell at him when she disappeared.

* * *

><p>The Oracle looked at Sini. "I must return to my ship."<p>

"But you said you would help," Sini protested.

"I must go. This is urgent. I'll be right back. Just hold on to the gem and keep the men in their place until I get back. Just hold and think, really, that's all there is to it," said the Oracle running out of the cave.

She returned to the TARDIS and rushed to the console and the ship hummed angrily.

"Oh, no, I need access to the Eye of Harmony right now," said the Oracle, her hands flying across the controls. "This is not happening! Time can be rewritten!"

The ship grumbled.

"Oh, no one likes a Negative Nelly."

* * *

><p>The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. His hearts were beating double, no, triple time. He looked around.<p>

An army coming. An indescribable wrong and yet all he could think of was her.

He needed her. He had to get her. It was his fault. He brought her here. If he had just answered one of her questions, they might not have been here at all.

"I have to go. I'll be right back," said the Doctor.

"What?," said Tria.

"I need her. I can't get her back from here. I need to go to my ship." He sighed. "Howard, you're in charge until I get back."

"Why am I in charge?," he asked.

"Because you're the only one who doesn't want to kill anyone!," he shouted as he ran out.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: I do not own the Doctor, Donna, Doctor Who, etc. This chapter was sort of a beast. Thanks for the reads and reviews and follows. Enjoy and I really would love to know what you all think of this one.

* * *

><p>The Doctor had rushed past the approaching Men's Army. In this case, they just sort of stared at the mad man running back to the resort in his pajamas, paying him no attention at all.<p>

The Doctor rushed in the door of the TARDIS and to the console. He started scanning.

"Has to be something powerful, powerful enough to pull Donna away while she was in the vicinity of the gem, that kind of power..."

His hands flew across the console, trying to ascertain where the signal had come from.

"What do you mean it came from the TARDIS?," he shouted as the ship grumbled. "There was nobody here! You didn't kidnap Donna, did you? I mean, again?"

The ship gave a sarcastic hum.

"Yeah, Donna is starting to rub off on you. Then where is she?"

The Doctor tried to pinpoint the signal.

"What do you mean she's here?," shouted the Doctor. "She's not here!"

* * *

><p>Donna suddenly found herself back on the TARDIS.<p>

Well, not the same TARDIS. It felt the same but the walls were all clean and the console looked as if it might have been designed by someone with a bit of sanity.

"Who are you, young lady?"

Donna looked up to see an old man with white hair in a frock coat. He was accompanied by what looked to be a cute young couple and a teenage girl with a sixties style bob.

"What?," asked Donna.

He pointed his cane at her. "Now, young lady, I expect some answers. You can't just transport yourself onto the TARDIS like that. It's impossible."

Donna shook her head. "What?"

"Where's she from, Doctor?," asked the woman.

"What?," screamed Donna.

The four looked at her in shock. Donna covered her mouth.

"Are you alright, ma'am?," asked the man.

Donna was in such shock, she couldn't compose herself enough to yell at him for calling her "ma'am." She just nodded her head as her eyes grew wider.

That was the Doctor. That was the Doctor. She knew he was old, but seriously...

Then she thought of something. She withdrew her hand from her mouth.

"Um, quick question, are there a lot of people named 'Doctor'?"

"No," said the old man looking a bit unsettled by the question, "I'm the only one."

"You don't have like an attractive grandson also called 'Doctor'?"

"No. Young lady, I must protest, how did you get onboard my ship?"

"Would you like a glass of water?," asked the woman. "Ian, get her a chair."

"I'm fine, seriously, I'm fine," said Donna. "So, you're the Doctor? The only Doctor? The one married to the Oracle?"

He narrowed his eyes at her and Donna took that as confirmation. Cagey no matter how he looked, wasn't he?

"Okay," said Donna, "is there still a bar in here? I'll take a gin and tonic. Like, right now."

Nobody moved.

"I'm sorry, are you concerned or not?," shouted Donna. "I know I am! I mean, frock coat!"

"I'll go get that," said Ian as he rushed out.

"Is this like 'Benjamin Button'?," asked Donna. "I mean, Time Lords, are you born old then you get younger as you go along? Are we meeting in the middle?"

"Who are you? How do you know so much?," asked the Doctor.

"She looks as if she's from eighteenth century France, Doctor," said the woman.

"Oh, God, could you stop calling him that?," said Donna.

Donna noticed the teenager shooting daggers at her.

"I don't need your attitude, miss, so you can just forget it. And for your information, I'm not from eighteenth century France, I just read this letter I really, really shouldn't have and I chose this dress because I thought I was meeting Madame de Pompadour and now it's tight and I can hardly breathe and my boobs hurt! This bloody corset's worse than Spanx!"

"No, you sound more like twenty-first century Britain," said the Doctor. "Chiswick, I should say."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, isn't it just wizard that you always know everything!" She took the drink Ian had returned with.

"The usual air of coarseness and vulgarity one finds in that period," said the Doctor.

Donna's jaw dropped. "Do you get to be less of an ass the older you get?"'

"Mind your tongue, young lady."

"Oh, I will, next time you want me to use it for something. Got that, spaceman?" She looked at him. "Not that I'd be using it on you anyway... I mean, you look old enough to be my grandfather's grandfather." She shivered involuntarily.

"What are you talking about?," asked the Doctor.

"Oh, you would like me to spell it out for you, wouldn't you?"

Donna felt herself floating away again. Then she found herself in the TARDIS again. Not the right one, another weird one. She looked up to see a young woman in a schoolgirl uniform.

"Oh, you!," said Donna. "Romana!"

The woman looked surprised. "Doctor?," she said.

A man came in from the side. Donna looked at him. He had a friendly enough looking face, the clothes were normal, but he was wearing a ridiculous scarf. The one she had found in the TARDIS wardrobe and assumed must have been knitted with a senile grandmother with four thousand years of time on her hands.

"Oh, it's you! Hold on, I have a note about just this scenario." He searched his pockets. "Oh, right there." He started to read. "You're being pulled through time and space by the Eye of Harmony- at least that's what I thought last time- and your name is Donna."

"You needed a note to remember that?," asked Donna.

"Yes, I know it seems strange, but it's not every day someone appears on my ship. Oh, this is Romana."

"Yeah, been through that," said Donna narrowing her eyes at the young woman. "Can I just ask? What the hell have you got on a school girl uniform for?"

Romana looked at her disparagingly. "What are you wearing that for?"

"Look, I thought I was in eighteenth century France when I put this on! Where were you? St. Trinian's?"

They just looked at her as if she was speaking complete nonsense.

"Don't judge me. I only rented it and it was only to see Colin Firth. And I had flu!" She paused. "Okay, I already watched the sequel on the TARDIS telly, but it's not like I paid for it. I mean, Colin Firth's in it and this other somewhat foxy bloke I can't seem to remember the name of."

Donna saw the Doctor trying to let that comment go.

"Eighteenth century France! What a coincidence! We were just in Paris! Had a bit of trouble with the Mona Lisa. Would you like me to tell you about it?," asked the Doctor.

"She's being pulled by the Eye of Harmony, Doctor," said Romana.

"Sorry, the what?," asked Donna.

"The Eye of Harmony, the source of power for Gallifrey and for time travel," explained the Doctor.

"And someone's trying to use it on me?," asked Donna. She really didn't like the sound of that.

"Why is she being pulled by the Eye of Harmony?," asked Romana. "Isn't she just a human?"

"What did you say?," asked Donna.

"Well, you are."

"Look, madame, we can take this outside if you want."

"We're in the Time Vortex," she said.

"Then you can land this thing and we can take it outside."

"Don't antagonize her, Romana," the Doctor interrupted. "It says not to in the note."

"What am I? A wild bear?," Donna said with disdain. "What else does it say about me in there?"

The Doctor looked. "Just that your name is Donna and you're ginger, not to antagonize you because you slap and that you're very important."

"Does it say who wrote the note?," asked Donna.

"No idea."

"Then how did you get it?"

"Strange sort of gentlemen gave it to me in Paris actually."

Donna shook her head. "So, you just believe anything you read in a note that you have no idea where it came from?"

"Yes, of course."

Romana stared at the TARDIS console. "She's being pulled backwards and forwards in time, originating and arriving in the same location."

"Super," said Donna.

"It's as if someone's trying to rewrite your time line," said Romana.

"What?," screamed Donna.

"Now, it's nothing to worry about," said the Doctor.

"Nothing to worry about? How can it be nothing to worry about?"

"You know, you shout a lot," said the Doctor.

"Oh, you like it when I shout," said Donna.

Romana gave the Doctor a curious look.

"You know, I have the feeling that I might."

Donna disappeared again and found herself on her TARDIS, but it wasn't right. It was red and the cloister bell was sounding. She heard a mad laugh and suddenly Harold Saxon appeared.

"Harold Saxon?," she said. "What the hell are you doing here?

"Who are you?"

"I asked first. Why are you here and where is the Doctor?"

"Look, ginger, you had better get to talking." He looked at her. "Nice dress."

"Creepy," said Donna. "What the hell's wrong with the TARDIS? What did you do to her? Did you break her? Oh, I am going to be so mad if I can't go home because you broke the TARDIS."

"I turned it into a paradox machine."

"Well, that's stupid," said Donna. It just sounded stupid.

"It is not!," he said. "I'm going to use it to bring back an army and start a war with the universe to build a new Time Lord empire to rule over all creation!"

Donna frowned and shook her head. "That's still stupid."

"Why is that?"

"Well, big Time Lord empire for starters. Assuming you're not the Doctor, that means there's two whole Time Lords. How are you gonna rule over an empire with two Time Lords?"

"I'm the Master, I can do anything."

"The Master? You picked that? That has got to be the most psychotic thing I have ever heard," said Donna. "And what are you doing with the TARDIS? How do you know the Doctor anyway?"

"We were schoolmates."

"Oh," said Donna rolling her eyes, "heard that one before."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, look, sorry, I'm disappearing," said Donna.

Donna looked up again and saw a tall man with white hair, standing on the other side of the TARDIS console room.

"Oh, good. The creep is gone." She looked at the man's velvet suit and frilly shirt.

"Oh." He pulled a note from his pocket. "You're Donna, you're ginger and you're important."

"You left out the slapping bit."

"It seemed rude to mention it. I'm the Doctor."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting that." She rested her hands on the console. "Before I disappear again, could you maybe tell me why you all are so different? You're all the Doctor, but..." She just shook her head.

"You mean the regenerations."

"The what?"

"When a Time Lord is too old or injured or ill, we regenerate into an entirely new body, become a whole different person."

"But you're all the Doctor, though?," asked Donna.

"Yes," he paused. "You're human."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Everyone seems keen to mention that."

"So, are you a future companion?"

Donna snorted. "Look, I already tried to get by with that lie once today."

"I'm terribly sorry, but I don't understand," said the Doctor.

Donna threw up her hands. "Of course you don't. Look, the last Doctor and the tart in the school girl outfit said I was being pulled by the Eye of Harmony. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No, I'm afraid not. The Eye of Harmony is just a myth."

"Everything is always a myth with you," Donna grumbled. "Until it tries to kill me."

Donna felt herself slipping away again. "Oh good! Do you think we could time these long enough for me to figure out what's going on?"

Donna looked up to see another of the white TARDIS console rooms and found herself staring at a man with silly hair and a ridiculous suit.

Funny how that description fit so many of them.

This one was looking at himself in a mirror.

"Oh my God," said Donna.

He looked up at her, almost as if he found her distasteful. "Who are you?"

"Check your pocket for a note," said Donna.

"Oh," he grunted, "you mean that idiot was serious?"

He got out the note and began to read it. He then crumpled it up and tossed it aside. "You know, I'm beginning to fear for my future incarnations. I feel as if they may not be quite as good as myself."

"What?," asked Donna.

"Such a sentimental attachment to a human being, no less. Crossing your own personal time line for one, that's a new one. My last incarnation died to save a human, you won't catch me doing that again."

"You idiot."

He chuckled. "I beg your pardon?"

"You are not the greatest Doctor, you're not even hitting the top tier of what I've seen today. Tell you what, someday there will be a much better one. He's kind and clever and gorgeous and knows how to treat people! And he doesn't spend his time staring in the bloody mirror congratulating himself on how great he is! I think he probably moisturizes after he shaves and there must be ten minutes spent on that hair, but otherwise he's a million times better than you."

"You do of course realize that I am him. And he's me. We're not like you."

"Oh, right, you're all special because you're a Time Lord. Ooh. You're wearing a cat pin! Do you also live with your mother?"

Donna looked up again and found herself on the TARDIS. Yes! Coral! A little bit dark, but still.

"Doctor!," she shouted anxiously. Oh, God, she didn't think she had ever been so happy to see that...

Man with the cropped haircut and giant ears? What was with the leather jacket? She looked him up and down. Well, at least he seemed to be in her age range. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Oh, great. Another ape," he said in a decidedly Northern accent.

"A what?"

"Oh, well, better look at the note." He went in the breast pocket of his jacket. "Donna, ginger, do not antagonize, she slaps. Great. Why don't you have a seat and be quiet like a good girl until you disappear again?"

Donna slapped him across the face. He looked up at her as if he was stunned that she did it. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You were saying?"

"Doctor?," She heard a woman's voice say.

"Rose, this is Donna. Try not to antagonize her, she slaps," he said as he rubbed the side of his face.

A young woman walked up. Donna gave her a very thorough once over. She could be a pretty girl, if she tried, but she was making the mistakes every woman made when she was young, doing too much instead of using the bare minimum. Unruly blonde hair, definitely some peroxide involved there. Lots of make up, when did she have time for the make up going around with the Doctor? Donna was lucky if he let her have enough time to get some powder on, let alone all that eyeliner. A Union Jack top, jeans, trainers, black jacket. God, how old could she possibly be?

"No, seriously," Donna said out loud finding her thoughts escaping her mouth, "how old are you?"

"What?," asked Rose.

Donna started giggling in spite of herself and in spite of her serious desire to stop because it hurt too much with the corset on. "I mean, have you even left school?," asked Donna, laughing. "Did your mum have to write you a note so you could come?"

"What are you laughing at?," asked Rose.

"Nothing, I'm certainly not laughing at you," said Donna, giggles betraying herself. "It's just the situation, I never understood until now, but now I get it! You're a teenager! I've done things you haven't even heard of!"

"What?," asked Rose.

Donna was laughing so hard tears were starting to come out of her eyes. "This was never going to work out, was it? Never ever!"

"Look, you had better just tell me what you're on about," said Rose.

"Or what? You're going to take your toys and go home?," Donna snorted. She looked at the Doctor. "I mean, I get that this seems like a good idea right now, but it's so not, but, you know, you go ahead and work through your issues, okay? And you! You're what? Twenty? Nothing ever works out when you're twenty! Only you don't know that because you're twenty!"

"I'm nineteen," said Rose.

"Oh, that's even better!," Donna giggled. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't laugh."

Donna looked up, still laughing to see a blond man in a cricket uniform wearing a piece of celery.

She stopped laughing.

"Oh. My. God," said Donna.

"Oh, wait, I have a note about this," said the man reaching into his pocket. "This is Donna. She's ginger. Don't antagonize her. She slaps. She's important."

"You're wearing celery," said Donna.

"Doctor."

Donna turned to see a young woman, wearing shorts and showing off a fair bit of cleavage. She turned back to the Doctor.

"Are you serious? Do you pick these girls up at some sort of intergalactic beauty pageant or something?"

"So, you know me," he said. "I don't know you."

"Not yet and not while you're wearing a vegetable," said Donna. "I've got standards."

"Let's see what the scanner says," said the Doctor, putting on a pair of glasses while he walked over to the TARDIS console.

Donna snorted.

"Is something funny?," he asked.

"The brainy specs!," she said. "Oh, come on! I know you only put them on when you're trying to seem clever! Here's a tip: take off the celery."

He looked offended and went to the console. "It's as if you're being pulled across time, but not space."

"I could have told you that, I just keep ending up on the TARDIS again and again..."

Donna looked up again. She saw a serious faced man with long hair staring at the TARDIS controls. It was another new console room. He glanced up at her.

"Oh. It's you," he said. He sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't really have time right now."

Donna walked over to the TARDIS viewscreen. She looked over his shoulder to see what he was staring at.

Some sort of space station, surrounded by flying saucers.

"What's going on?," asked Donna.

"The Time War," he said. "Never heard of it? That's good. Perhaps we win."

"You're fighting the Daleks," said Donna.

"Haven't I mentioned them by now?"

Donna shook her head. "You never mention much of anything about yourself."

"A Dalek the perfect instrument of genocide. Bred to fight and kill and never question why." He nodded. "That is Space Station Alpha, been there a billion years. A hundred thousand Time Lords there."

"It's small," said Donna.

He looked at her. "Should you say it or should I?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's bigger on the inside."

He took a deep breath. "It's been breached by the Daleks."

"Well, aren't you going to help them?," asked Donna.

"I can't help them." He held up a remote control and pushed a button.

Donna watched in horror as the station exploded.

"You killed them. All those people..."

"We're fighting a war for the universe. Sacrifices must be made."

Ahe turned back to him in order to rail at him, but could see him trembling. It was a different man, but she recognized the look in his eyes. It was the same one the Doctor had in Pompeii when he hesitated about pulling the lever and setting off Vesuvius.

"It's alright," said Donna. She hugged him and he stiffened.

"That's really not necessary," he said.

"I think it is," she said.

He walked away.

"You don't have a companion?," asked Donna.

He scoffed. "As if I could ask a companion to come along for this," he said as Donna saw the weight of the universe in his eyes.

"Well, you can go home to your family, can't you?," asked Donna, hoping. "Talk to them about it?"

"My children are all gone now," he said. "My wife hasn't spoken to me in years, not really anyway."

"I'm sorry," said Donna, her eyes welling up.

"Sorry I couldn't meet you on a better day, but I won't be sorry to take the amnesia pill."

"Amnesia pill? Is that why none of you have remembered me?"

"Yes."

"So, somebody has been giving you all notes about me and amnesia pills? Just, please, tell me one thing, why have you all been listening to whoever it is?"

"Because he said if I didn't it would ruin the best surprise of my lives."

Donna looked up. Different TARDIS this time. Great. More chairs, though, that was a nice improvement. She looked around, wondering where whatever Doctor this was was.

"I'm getting it!," she heard a voice shout.

Donna came face to face with a young man with old eyes and floppy brown hair. He had on a bow tie and braces. Still, not the silliest thing she had seen the Doctor wear today. He stopped in shock.

"It's you," he said.

"Yeah, you've got a note about me, I suppose."

"No. Don't need it. Hold that thought." He turned back to the corridor and shouted. "No one under any circumstances come out of the sitting room! And don't ask why not, better that you don't say anything at all! The universe as we know it may well end if you do! And do not under any circumstances touch the Jammy Dodgers! I counted them before I left the room and I intend to count them again upon my return!"

Donna's eyes grew bigger and he turned back to her. "What? They're always taking my biscuits."

"I wasn't worried about your Jammy Dodgers, I was worried about the universe ending."

"Oh, nothing to worry about, I just have to be very careful about what I say to you. Spoilers."

"Wait. So, you're a future Doctor?"

"Spoilers."

Donna grimaced. "You know, I really don't like that word."

"Oh, I know you don't." He smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Donna Noble."

"Well, isn't that a spoiler? I'm going to think I'm dead or something."

"I didn't say that. I only meant that the you that you are now only exists at one point in time, doesn't it? Here you are, brilliant, beautiful Donna Noble at one point in your life, I might change a dozen times, but you, you're changing every second."

"So, I get stupid and ugly?," asked Donna.

"I never said that." He smiled. "You'll always be magnificent. More importantly, what do you think of me?"

She appraised him again. "I think if I'm still alive, people are going to think I'm your mother."

"Oh, no they won't," he said.

"Spoilers," said Donna.

He laughed. "See there? Nobody does the repartee quite as well as you."

"So, who's in the sitting room?"

"I can't tell you who's in the sitting room. That really would be a spoiler."

"Look, if I'm going to be murdered by a a giant space shark, I deserve to know, don't you think?"

"Yes, but if I told you about every bad thing, wouldn't I have to tell you about every good thing? Imagine. Every good thing that happens for the rest of your life and I go and ruin it. No shock, no surprises. It really might take the joy out of life, don't you think?"

Donna nodded. "Okay, Time Boy, you may have a point."

"More importantly, we can't have you thinking the future is guaranteed. Same reason I've been wiping my memory after I met you."

"You wrote the note?" She scoffed. "This is Donna, she's ginger, don't antagonize her, she slaps?"

"And she's important. That was my favorite bit. Also, you might give me some credit for delivering a message across time and space to myself without ending the universe, it came close with my sixth incarnation. We got into an argument over the cat pins," he spat out the last bit and shook his head. "Oh and sorry I couldn't help you with the first me, he just refused to take me seriously. He also insulted my hat which was totally uncalled for."

"Why did you wipe your memory?"

"Because the first time I saw you on the TARDIS, I didn't know you. It wouldn't have been the same if I had just gone, 'Oh, look, it's that ginger who keeps showing up.'"

"Best surprise you ever had, one of you said."

"Yes, it was, actually."

"Okay, can you tell me how much longer I've got to do this, though?"

"Just one more after this. I've put a stop on your travels, it will keep you from going any further forward in time- better that way, less spoilers. It will also make you miss two of my previous incarnations, long story short, you're not going to like my haircut or my jumper- and send you back to your final destination." He took a breath. "You're going to see the Oracle."

"Is she the one that's done all this? Do you know what kind of a day I've had?"

"I do actually, but I know you, Donna Noble. You're kind and you're compassionate and I know it won't take you long to realize what sort of a day she's had."

It hit Donna like a ton of bricks. "She realized the Time Lords were all going to die, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did."

"She's scared and sad and jealous. She gave both of her hearts to a man and she just found out she's not certain she's getting anything back. I think you might know what that's like."

Donna nodded. "Yeah, that's how I got into this mess. That doesn't mean I know what to say to her. She knows she's going to lose everyone that ever meant anything to her."

"You'll think of something. You've never been at a loss for words."

"Okay, then, who's in the sitting room?"

He shook his head and smiled. "I had forgotten how nosy you were."

"Is it River Song?"

"Not telling."

"Okay, what did you come out here for? I heard you say you were getting something."

"Okay, Donna Noble, you win." He picked up a multi-eyed bird toy off one of the seats. It was a sort of Emu, with purple feathers and a toucan shaped bill.

"What is it?," she asked.

"Spoilers."

"Say that one more time and I will slap you."

"I think I would enjoy that. It's been a while."

"Well, when I'm gone, do my clothes end up in the TARDIS wardrobe?" She pointed at her dress. "Some time your next girlfriend will have trying to figure out what this was for."

The Doctor smiled. "Your things won't go in a cupboard, Donna. You will always live in my hearts."

Donna was speechless.

"You are lucky and so am I," he said wistfully. "Your best days are all ahead of you. So many good days, Donna Noble. The Most Important Woman in the Universe."

Donna shook her head. "Now you're just being nice."

He looked as if he was about to protest, then shook his head. "The most important woman in my universe, anyway."

Donna saw his eyes get sad and she realized she was disappearing again.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. If I did, I bet I would have gone over budget with that last chapter and would be getting all kinds of calls from the BBC. Anyway, thanks for the reads and reviews and follows, I really appreciate it. Enjoy this one and let me know what you think.

* * *

><p>Donna looked up again. She was on a TARDIS more similar to the first one she had been on.<p>

"Hello?," said Donna, not seeing anyone.

She heard sobbing and moved around the console to see the Oracle in a heap, crying.

"Hi," said Donna.

"Would you mind terribly just giving me a moment?," she asked. "I did just find out my entire civilization is doomed."

"Right. Sorry."

Donna was impressed by how composed the woman was even now as her world was falling apart. She was so elegant and beautiful, Audrey Hepburn of the Time Lords, Donna thought. What the Time Lady couldn't help, was the tears threatening to consume her.

The Oracle sniffled. "I hardly feel as if it's quite right that I should have to meet my husband's future girlfriend at this very moment and can't understand how I'm expected to be civil!"

Donna sat down carefully. "Sorry."

"I've tried. I've tried rewriting the time lines and I can't. That's why you got tossed about so much, ripples in space time sending you back to where you belong."

"I really just want to go home," said Donna. She noticed the hurt in the Oracle's face. "I mean, to my time."

"I've already programmed it," she said, trying to hide an unseemly bit of snot running out of her nose. "Next ripple sends you home."

"Thanks," said Donna. She took a breath. "Can't you do something? If you know the future and what happens to your people, why don't you do something about it?"

"That means you'll have never met the Doctor."

Donna shook her head. "He's lonely, though. He hurts for you."

"He's always been lonely. Ever since he was a little boy. He had three friends at the Academy. I was one of them, the other two were psychotic. Of course, I'm not much better. I just tried to rewrite the universe because I didn't want to lose my husband."

"But your people-" Donna protested.

The Oracle shook her head and cut her off. "No, it has to be. You might think the universe is one random event after the other, but it's causal. Every fixed event, no matter how horrifying, leads to the next and something enormous is coming. Something so enormous that I must leave things as they are."

"Whatever's coming, can't you fix it?"

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

The Oracle willfully ignored her question because she couldn't answer it. "Lucky you," she said, a tiny smile crossing her face, "you get him when he's that foxy. He has never looked that good, trust me."

Donna nodded. "Yeah, I've seen some of what you had to be married to."

"Oh, great, now I've got that to look forward to," said the woman, not looking quite so burdened.

"The one with the celery isn't bad," admitted Donna.

The Oracle stared at her. "Auspicious words."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, you're back in about thirty-two seconds. The planet, I can't fix it myself. I have to go home to Gallifrey right now to keep the time line in place."

Donna nodded. "The Doctor will sort it."

"He needs someone. He always needs someone."

"Yeah," said Donna, "I know."

"Good."

Donna stood back up, not knowing what to do. The Oracle stayed slumped on the floor.

"Donna."

"Yes?"

"Turn left."

Before she could ask what the hell that meant, Donna found herself back on the TARDIS.

Her TARDIS.

Her Doctor.

Who was currently trying to change one control with his left foot as he balanced leaning across the console to operate something else with his hands. He looked as if he was going to try to turn something with his nose next when Donna said...

"Doctor?"

"Just one minute!"

She rolled her eyes. "Doctor."

"Hold on, if I just reverse the polarity of the signal-"

"DOCTOR!"

He looked up. "Oh. There you are. I was just trying to get you back."

"Well, I'm back." She looked at him as he maintained his simultaneously ridiculous and precarious position. "You can stand up properly now."

"Oh, right." He looked at himself, trying to best judge how to get out of position. He straightened his back, swung his left leg down and stood up. He looked back at Donna and they sprinted towards each other and hugged. "You got pulled across time somehow-"

"Eye of harmony."

He looked at her quizzically. "You were only moving through time, somehow, you always remained on the TARDIS. What happened?"

"I was with you," she said.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Yeah, I bet you don't. When were you planning on telling me about this whole regeneration thing?"

"Oh," said the Doctor.

"Oh," Donna said mockingly. "You know, I would have mentioned it if I was going to change bodies all of a sudden."

The Doctor nodded. Donna rolled her eyes as he did his angst-ridden Time Lord thing, somehow looking even more pathetic when he was still in his pajamas.

"You idiot," she said and kissed him full on the lips. "I don't care."

The Doctor was elated by this statement, but didn't trust it. It was too good to be true. "Donna, I don't think you understand completely. I just don't change bodies, I change everything. Personality, the very essence of who I am, changes."

"Yeah, and I saw you change clothes as well."

"Donna, seriously, I really change. You may not even like me."

"Yeah, I seriously didn't like some of you. I didn't like when you told me to mind my tongue."

"What?"

"And I did have to slap you when you called me an ape."

He looked as if he was trying to recall where that might have come from. "Oh. Sorry."

"But I love you," Donna said, taking his face in her hands. "No matter who you are."

"That's not rational..." he said sadly.

"Doctor," she said, "exactly what part of you and I is rational?"

Unable to resist, he kissed her. She pulled back, still feeling a little oxygen-deprived from the corset. She got herself together.

"Now," she said, "we have to change clothes."

"Why?"

"Because you're in pajamas and I look as if I just wandered off the set of Valmont."

"Valmont?"

"Colin Firth was in it. I had flu. I'm sick of explaining myself to you. I've been doing it for hours." She tugged at the front of the corset.

"Do you have to get out of the corset?"

"Excuse me for wanting to breathe again."

"You just look nice, that's all."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I get that you're a tit man-"

"A what?"

"You've been pretending not to look all day, well, most of you, that one was too busy staring at himself, but seriously, you have no idea how bloody uncomfortable this is. Now, get dressed, we have a planet to save."

Donna started down the hall.

"Do you need help with the corset?," he called after her.

"Planet to save!"

* * *

><p>Howard looked at the two groups. "I think what we're having is a communications issue. Let's do an exercise where you role play so you two can understand how the other feels. Uh, women's army lady, why don't you show this men's army guy what it's like when he talks to you?"<p>

Tria sneered. "I've never seen him before today!"

"Are you a trained psychiatrist?," asked the men's army commander.

"No, I just go to a lot of couples' counseling," sighed Howard.

Tria and the man eyed him suspiciously.

"My wife and I have issues, okay? She wants her mother to move in and the thought of that makes me want to commit suicide."

Just then, the Doctor materialized the TARDIS in the temple. He stepped out, soon followed by Donna, to see the Women's Army pointing guns at the Men's Army and vice versa.

Howard was still standing in the middle, not looking comfortable surrounded by two armies with guns. He looked at the Doctor with exasperation.

"Where the hell did you go?"

"How long was I?," asked the Doctor.

"I don't know, I don't have a watch!"

"Who's he?," asked Donna.

"Oh, that's Howard. Howard, this is Donna, my... Oh, not sure what to call you. Donna, what do you want to be called?"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm forgetting the planet saving again, aren't I?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah... Anyway, Men's Army, Women's Army, how is everyone?"

"Who are you?," asked the Commander of the Men's Army.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Donna, that's Howard and Tria. You are?"

"Beno."

"Beno! Brilliant, now that's we're all acquainted, I thought I might explain to you all that you're idiots."

"What?," said Tria.

"What?," asked Beno.

"You have a psychic generator powerful enough to change the face of your planet and you all walk around here trying to kill each other! That is more than a bit rubbish."

"It's never worked for us," said Tria, "not like it did for the Oracle."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that, a good one," said the Doctor. "And for this demonstration, I will be needing a lovely assistant. Donna?"

"Assistant?," she sneered.

"I also said lovely." He held his hand out. "Come on."

Donna took the Doctor's hand and they walked to the pedestal with the gem. The Doctor let go of Donna's hand and picked it up.

"Right, just me, holding the gem, what have you got? Nothing. Well, next to nothing. Some higher level psychic activity, none that you lot can see, can you?" He tossed it at Donna and she yelped as she caught it.

"Do you maybe not want to throw the weird alien stone at me?"

"Yeah, but look at it."

Donna looked at the stone, it was in fact glowing.

"But..." The Doctor put his hand under the one Donna held the gem with, "...what do you suppose happens when we both hold it?"

A bright light shone, making the room seem as if it was glowing.

"What was that?," asked Donna.

"Just some psychic resonance, see the pictures?"

They all looked up.

"What about them?," asked Donna.

"Someone painted over one, to make it look like a woman." He looked at Tria. "You were here with the Oracle. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't have anyone figuring out that to use this, you needed to have a man and a woman." He looked at Donna. "See, that's the secret. Men and women, together, bringing new life. Well, not in the usual way. Now, we're pretty good together, what do you suppose Tria and Beno could do if they held it?"

"I won't hold hands with that thing," said Tria.

"I won't hold hands with that," sneered Beno.

"Oh, but if you don't touch it, you'll never know," said the Doctor.

"I'll take that risk," said Beno.

"Padit," said the Doctor, "what do you say? You reckon you're man enough to try?"

Padit looked at the other men skeptically, then finally stepped forward.

Donna looked at the cadre of women. "Come on, girls. What do you say? It's not as if they have cooties." She motioned her head at the Doctor. "I touched his hand and I'm still alive."

One of the female soldiers stepped forward despite Tria's objection. The Doctor put their hands together and then placed the gem on top.

The temple started shaking. The Doctor went to hold Donna. Nothing broke, though, the walls opened and the ceiling was gone revealing a brilliant green sky and a sun. The air was suddenly filled with bird song and somehow smelled cleaner.

The Doctor looked at the assembly.

"Psychic generator, you've been selling it off to tourists, but if you use it together, nothing can stop you. You need each other. Or you know, just keep subjugating each other. Your choice really."

The two armies looked at each other. Beno and Tria both signalled for arms to be laid down. They did, the guns clattered against the stone floors.

Donna reached over and squeezed the Doctor's hand. The assembly looked at each other sheepishly as the sun shone down on them.

"Good job keeping them from killing each other, Howard," said the Doctor.

Howard nodded. "Next time, I'm going to Space Florida."

* * *

><p>The Oracle landed the TARDIS in the back garden. She stepped out, warmed by the light of two suns.<p>

Two suns. They would be gone someday, along with everything else that had ever mattered. She bit her lip to keep tears from filling her eyes. She looked to the window of the house to see the Doctor, quickly closing the curtain. She had to smile at his playing at nonchalance.

She entered the house.

"Oh, are you home?," he asked. "That was what, a few minutes?"

"Twelve hours," she said.

He threw down his book in frustration. "Your point is made. Are you satisfied?"

"Satisfied enough," said the Oracle.

"Perhaps you're right, I should stay home more."

She looked at him. He meant it. She couldn't have that.

"No. I don't think you should."

"What?"

She shook her head. "You're not happy here. You should go and see everything you want to see."

"The High Council-"

"Doctor, when have you ever listened to the High Council?" She was shaking on the inside. "I want you happy and you are going to be so happy, believe me."

She smiled and turned to go back to her room. She didn't know how long she could keep this up.

"Come with me," he said.

She froze. It would be so easy to go with him, to have those brilliant adventures.

But that wouldn't work. Not at all. He wouldn't need a companion then and if he never had companions, he wouldn't need Donna Noble.

And he had to meet Donna Noble.

The Oracle stopped and turned.

"No, not for me."

"Oh."

She started walking away.

"I'll miss you," he said.

With tears in her eyes, a knot in her stomach and both hearts aching in her chest, the Oracle willed herself to walk on. She was too terrified to look back at the Doctor because she knew that merely one forlorn look would be enough to make her lose her resolve and that would ruin everything. She had tried to rewrite time.

There was no point.

Time could not be rewritten.

He was going to be so happy.

She was going to miss him, too.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. Thanks for reading as this is the final chapter of this story, I've got some things very soon in the works. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy and let me know what you think. Also, Happy New Year!

* * *

><p>It took a few days back on the planet for the Doctor to sort out everything. For one thing, they had a hell of a time deciding on what the planet should be called: Athena Five or Zeus Five? Then deciding how to rebuild their world and integrate male and female societies.<p>

They were finally back in the TARDIS. Donna was changing into some sweats, having made the Doctor swear they were going to get a couple of days rest in the Vortex. The recovery from the corset was ongoing.

She went to the sitting room, ready to spend the evening relaxing with the Doctor, but the door was cracked open a bit. There were old wooden cartons on the floor with circles on the side. Donna stopped and tried to sneak a peek.

The Doctor was going through them. He stopped and stared at something he held in his hand that Donna couldn't quite make out. She cleared her throat loudly and walked in. She saw him trying to stuff whatever it was in his pocket.

"So, film," said the Doctor, "shall it be Colin Firth in Love Actually? Colin Firth in Bridget Jones? What about that St. Trinian's sequel? I haven't seen that one yet."

Donna sat down next to him on the sofa.

"I get that you're 'The Doctor'," said Donna making little air quotes. "I do, I really do. I know that you're an alien and you're nine hundred years old and you've had lives that have nothing to do with me. I can understand that. But I've seen bits of you that no one else has seen-"

The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows.

Donna snorted. "That's not what I meant, silly. I meant that I know who you are now so I know when you're hiding from me. You're only half yourself when you hide from me and I hate to see you as only half yourself."

The Doctor nodded. "What do you want to know?"

Donna smiled.

"About Reinette? Romana? Rose? The Rani?"

"Who's the Rani?"

"Long story. Bad month at the Academy." He paused. "But I can tell you about it, if you want to know."

Donna couldn't believe it. He was actually offering information.

"No," said Donna. "I want to know what you put in your pocket when I came in."

"Oh," said the Doctor, "that." He pulled out the stuffed animal and held it in front of Donna. She realized it was the same one the future Doctor had been holding.

"What is it?," asked Donna looking at it.

"It's a Scallofrax."

"So, this is your daughter's favorite toy..."

"I gave it to her the day she was born. I took it with me after she died..." She watched his long fingers clench around it.

"It's okay," said Donna, putting her hand over his. "You don't need to tell me anymore."

"No, it's fine. She died in the war, during the first Dalek attack on Gallifrey. She was the only girl, we had three sons... It's special, having a daughter."

"Yeah," said Donna. She took him in her arms and hugged him tightly. He hugged back weakly.

"Donna..."

"Quiet. You don't have to tell me any more if you're not ready." She rubbed circles on his back.

"I don't want you to leave me, though."

Donna pulled back from the embrace, her hands on his arms. She shook her head. "I'm never leaving you, Doctor."

"Everyone leaves, Donna." He said it was a matter of fact, as if it was the same as saying ten and ten is twenty.

"Am I everyone?"

"No," he said softly.

"Not leaving you. No matter how many of your women I find out about," she said ending in a smile.

He rolled his eyes. "You make it sound as if there are dozens, but that's simply not the case."

"Yeah, I know. I've had a look at most of you."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you're like the nerdy bloke in school who gets a posh sports car and can suddenly pick up all the girls, aren't you?

"I am not!," he protested. She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I might be. A bit."

"Your wife, though, she loved you no matter what you were."

"Yeah," said the Doctor, "she did."

Donna decided not to press that issue any more. He paused and opened the box, ready to deposit the Scallofrax back in it.

"What are you doing?," asked Donna.

"I'm just going to get these things out of the way."

"You don't have to do that," said Donna. She took the Scallofrax from him. "Poor Mister Scallofrax in a box."

"You keep it then," said the Doctor.

Donna remembered the future Doctor. He was getting this for someone.

She seriously doubted she had been the one demanding it.

Come to think of it, River Song hadn't seemed like the sort of woman that had a room full of stuffed animals in her house.

That only left possibilities Donna was not yet ready to face.

"Something wrong, Donna?," asked the Doctor.

"No," said Donna, "tell you what, it's not mine, but I'll hang on to it for you so it doesn't have to go in a box. How does that sound?"

He smiled. "That sounds brilliant."

Donna sat back on the sofa and placed the Scallofrax next to her. The Doctor sat back next to her, relaxing into Donna. She started running her fingers through his hair.

"Yeah," said Donna at nothing in particular, feeling herself relax. "Brilliant."


End file.
